SANTA ANA : Shooting Victim Dies at Hospital
A drug purchase gone awry ended in a flurry of gunshots and the death of a 22-year-old man who was hit once in the head by a .45-caliber bullet, police said Thursday.
Investigators said the victim, Michael Dean Spaulding, 22, of Santa Ana, and two companions had driven to the 800 block of Townsend Street shortly before midnight Wednesday when several drug dealers approached their car, police spokeswoman Maureen Haacker said. Shots were fired from at least two pistols.
Officers said Spaulding’s friends drove from the shooting scene in search of a hospital for Spaulding. They called paramedics from a convenience store at Fairview Street and Trask Avenue. Spaulding died Thursday at UCI Medical Center.
Haacker said Spaulding’s two companions were not injured and told police investigators that they had driven to the area to buy drugs. Police were searching for several males in connection with the shooting.
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